The Menace's Revenge
by jedimastershaun
Summary: An AU story of Darth Maul, surviving through Episode one and through the rest of the saga
1. The Battle of Naboo

This is the first story I have written for so I really want to see some reviews on it (hopefully good ones). This is an alternate universe story about my favorite Sith that did not get as much time on the movies as he should have. So I really hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, Darth Maul, all other characters, and everything else.

A long time ago in a galaxy far away…

Star Wars

The Menace's Revenge

Chapter 1: The Battle of Naboo

The Trade Federation, in league with the Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, is attacking the peaceful planet of Naboo. There's fighting on multiple battle fronts. Above the planet in space, a fleet of highly trained pilots, and a little boy who was hiding in a Naboo Starfighter, are attacking the Federation's ships trying to destroy the droid command facility within. The Gungans, the native species of the planet, are holding off the advancing droid army. The Queen of Naboo, Padme Amidala, and her team of royal guards are on a desperate mission to get to the throne room and stop the Federation leaders. Finally, just inside from a hangar in the Queen's Palace two Jedi, Qui-Gon Ginn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, are valiantly fighting a Sith named Darth Maul.

Obi-wan tries to attack Darth Maul with a powerful blow but it backfires and makes him fall to a lower bridge. He has to call upon the force to jump back up to the higher bridge which slows him down and he isn't quiet able to catch up with his master and the wretched Sith. Qui-Gon and Maul fight through out the entire area and eventually the Jedi backs Maul into a room blocked by energy beams in the front and had nothing in it but a pit that seems to go on forever. Qui-Gon is just one energy beam away from Maul, while Obi-Wan is behind the last. The beams flicker and open, Qui-Gon comes in right away and though his Padawan tries, he does not make it in the room and is stuck at the same spot the Sith previously was. From that point he has to watch as Darth Maul kills his master by sticking an end of his double-blade through Qui-Gon's stomach. The beams flicker and open again. Obi-Wan quickly comes through and begins to attack Maul for his devious actions. Though most of the attacks are unsuccessful, one attack manages to break Maul's double blade in half. Then Darth Maul knocks Obi-Wan down into the "bottomless" pit and grabs onto a small bulge sticking out of the side of the wall. He notices his fallen master's light saber and thinks he can get it by using a force pull maneuver as he jumps into the air, and slices Maul in half. He attempts to do this but Darth Maul expects it and it backfires. Obi-Wan is cut in half and falls down the pit.

At that moment on Coruscant, we see Jedi Masters Yoda and Windu meditating. Yoda suddenly says "A disturbance in the force there is. Something that should not have happened on Naboo has."

Mace Windu says, "I sense it to. I feel it will affect more than Naboo. I think it will affect the Jedi, the Sith, the Republic, and perhaps the entire galaxy."

Yoda replies "Hmm…correct you are. See we must how this unfolds. Go to Naboo and discover what happened we will."

Back on Naboo, the battle is over. Anakin Skywalker has just destroyed the droid command center, from the inside! That was a feat that not even the most skilled pilots, let alone a little boy, could pull of. After the destruction of the droid command center, and the automatic shut down of the battle droids, The Gungans, who were losing their battle, are now picking up droid parts for scrap metal. The queen and her team have also made it to the throne room were they are "discussing" a new treaty with the Trade Federation leaders. Realizing that the Federation has lost the battle, Darth Maul retreats to the swamp land of Naboo, where his ship, The _Sith Infiltrator_, is hiding. Once inside his ship, he await for orders from his master.

A few days later, a transport ship arrives from Coruscant. On board, along with others, were Jedi masters Yoda and Windu, who came to investigate what had happened with the Sith, and Chancellor Palpatine, former senator of Naboo, who has come home to celebrate the victory with his fellow people. When the Jedi went to go investigate what had happened in the hangar, Palpatine insisted to go with them. When they reached the room with the bottomless pit, Yoda said, "There the body of master Qui-Gon is. Killed by a lightsaber he was."

Then Palpatine said, "But the Padawan survived. Correct?"

"No," replied master Windu.

"What?" said the Chancellor in a deep, scratchy voice that surprised the Jedi.

After a small silence, Master Windu said "I watched the holorecording of what happened. Obi-Wan was killed and his body fell down this pit. The Sith must have ran off and went into exile whenever he found out the rest of the battle was lost. He is probably thousand of light-years away from here by now."

"I see. It is most distressing to have lost two fine Jedi such as Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan."

"True that is. To commemorate there deaths, have we will a customary Jedi ceremony." Yoda commented.

Later at the ceremony, Master Windu quietly broke the moment of silence and said to Yoda, "The events that unfolded here leave us with three questions. Was the Sith the master or the apprentice, what are we to do with the boy from Tatooine, and what was the disturbance in the force we felt?"

"To your first question, know I do not is the only answer I can give. See we must how later events unfold. To the second, bring him home we can not. Leave him here we can not. Find him a new home we can not. Train him to be a Jedi, the only thing we can do that is. To the third, like the answer to the first, this answer is."

"I see. I think that since this boy is such a special case a member of the council should train him. I will graciously volunteer to do this task."

"Then Skywalker your Padawan is," commented Yoda as both of them turned to watch the burning body of the once great Jedi master, Qui-Gon Jinn.

Darth Maul's comlink beeped letting him know his master had finally contacted him. A spot blinked on his datapad showing him the rendezvous point where his master wanted to meet him and exactly when. When Maul arrived, His master, Darth Sidious said, "I did not foresee that you would survive your encounter with the Jedi. I believe that you were not meant to, but perhaps the Force thinks differently. You need to go to the planet known as Ilum for three reasons. One, two build yourself a new light saber, two, there are events that need to unfold that you can not be a part of, and three, to see the visions in the crystal cave. Perhaps the Force, through these visions, will tell you something that it has not told me about why you survived."

Though initially shocked at his master telling him he does not think he should be alive, he stood up and said "Yes, Master, I will return when all things you have said have been completed."


	2. The Revelation of the Sith

Authors Note: Some of this stuff in this chapter you may not recognize from the movies or any thing. All things explaining the beasts and exterior of the planet I have paraphrased from Jude Watson's hardback book introducing her "Jedi Quest" series entitled "Jedi Quest." If you haven't read it, it is about Anakin Skywalker between Episodes 1 and 2. Thanks and may the force be with you.

Chapter 2: The Revelation of the Sith

Ilum, a planet with some of the highest mountain ranges in the galaxy, all covered in deep blankets of snow. It is one of the most beautiful places in the galaxy, if you liked that kind of thing. Darth Maul preferred his planets much warmer and only liked high, mountain if they spewed out molten lava ever now and again. But seeing as Ilum is one of the few existing planets in the galaxy that naturally had all the materials needed to build a light saber, he had to go there anyway. This feature also attracted large groups of Jedi, so he had to land his ship far away from the actual mountain caves that contained the crystals and hike al the way there and then climb the mountain to find a suitable cave. For a planet nearly covered with Jedi, it was fairly easy to get to the mountains, only having to hide behind one section of rock when a Jedi-Padawan group walked by. The climb up the side of the mountain was going to be slightly more difficult. Even if there were no Jedi, there were giant carnivorous beasts called Gorgodons and they are know for being very hungry. He climbed up to a cave and saw a group of those animals. One charged at Maul, he pulled out his broken light saber, and prepared to attack the Gorgodon, but the beast froze in mid-air, like it was stopped by a mysterious force, and fell flat to the ground. The rest all ran away, as if fear had overcome their very beings. Maul turned off his saber, and walked directly into the cave.

These caves are very special. These caves are normal when you are in the front of them, but further in the walls become a glossy, smooth, black color that seem to absorb light rather than reflect it. Having the unique force powered crystal deep within the caves, they tend to generate visions on the sides of these walls telling of what could, may, or should happen to the individual in the cave.

Maul walked through and saw a few visions coming of the walls but nothing that he couldn't put out of his mind and forget. He made it to the back of the cave where the crystals are and sat down to meditate and build his saber. Suddenly, his mediation was broken and he, some how, was standing up with his old double bladed light saber within his grasp. He was no longer in the cave but instead he was on Naboo. He was behind the energy bars again. Qui-Gon was right in front of him just as before. The cave was forcing him to re-live this part of the fight. The energy bars opened and he started to attack Qui-Gon just like he had before. Maul killed him like he did before. Obi-Wan came to attack Maul again like he did before. Maul knocked Obi-Wan into the pit like he did before. But this time when Obi-Wan jumped out of the pit, he sliced Maul and half and Maul fell down the bottomless pit.

Suddenly, Maul was alive, wasn't cut in half, and was in an all white room with no sign of any thing for miles. Then he turned and the two Jedi he fought on Naboo were right in front of him. Maul had no weapon this time and could do nothing but stand there and look at them. Obi-Wan said, "What you just experienced was only a vision."

Qui-Gon commented, "This vision was what the force intended to happen to you. You see, the force has a will, like a living being…"

Darth Maul replied, "I know that already I have studied the way of the Force since I was just a little child."

Qui-Gon said, "I see, well, you have become a siphon in the force and can bend it to your whim. The Force wanted you to come here, which is why it shrouded you from the Jedi on the planet, and froze the beasts in the air. It wanted you to be at your best physically and mentally when you arrive to this cave. You came here searching for answers but the answers you seek are not here. You need to travel to the former Sith empire home world of Korriban. There you can research the life of two other siphons of the force one is only known as the Exile, and the other is Darth Revan. You will learn from them how to control these unique abilities you have. Finally, before you go, take this, it is a new lightsaber." Qui-Gon throws a light saber to Maul. Then, suddenly, the two Jedi were gone and Maul was sitting on the ground of the cave in his meditation pose with the lightsaber the Jedi had given him in his lap. This lightsaber was very unique. It was a double blade, was the same deep, black color as the walls in the cave, had silver buttons, and the energy beams coming out were a dark, sinister black color. Maul got up, walked out of the cave, and decided to leave for Korriban.


	3. The Tomb of New Beginings

Authors Note: Again, this chapter is not as much based on the movies. All information about Korriban I will be taking from the video games "Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic," and "Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords." One more thing, the Character Darth Revan is the main character from Knight of the Old Republic 1, and the character known as the Exile is the main character from Knight of the Old Republic 2, which is why their physical characteristics will not be explained much. Keep sending in those replies not only for this chapter but for the first two as well.

Chapter 3: The Tomb of New Beginnings

The Journey to Korriban was long, even through Hyper Space. This gave Maul plenty of time to think about the vision. Questions started entering his head, questions like, "If I was supposed to die, why did I survive?" "When and how did I become a "siphon" in the force?" "Why was the force protecting me even though I spent my entire life trying to bend it to my will?" He thought he would never find the answer to those questions and that they would haunt him forever.

He, finally, landed on Korriban. He knew very little about Korriban. All that he did know were from his studies of the ancient Sith with his master. At one time this planet was a bustling metropolis, covered with some of the greatest, and strongest Sith ever. After the first Sith Empire was destroyed, the planet deteriorated and became a Sith graveyard, with tombs and statues of the Sith everywhere. The civilization was created and destroyed over and over again, but as of that moment in time, it was little more then a desert planet, with but one tomb visible. Maul slowly walked up to the tomb. Just outside was a sign. It said "This tomb is full of traps that could kill you. If you enter this tomb, even if you make it through the traps, you will be destroyed! Turn back immediately. Do not enter unless you have direct consent from the High Jedi Council of Coruscant." Maul pulled out his new lightsaber, cut the sign in half, and buried the top part deep in the sand. He never liked anybody or anything telling him what he could or couldn't do, especially a stupid sign. He entered the tomb. When he first entered, he couldn't see anything because it was so dark. When his eyes were adjusted, he continued to walk inside the cave. The sign was correct. There were mines everywhere, but Maul saw them and easily avoided them. He got to the center of the tomb. There were three corridors that he could go down. The only difference between the hallways was the light around it. To his left it was dark, to his right it was darker, and in the center it was the darkest. As he is naturally prone to do, he went down the darkest. He walked down the hall, avoided the weak little traps set, and continued until he saw a door. He opened the door and walked in. The room he was in was very large and very empty except for something glowing in the far back of the room. He curiously walked towards it. As he got closer, he saw what the light was. To Maul's surprise, it was a game of hollo chess and suddenly two ghostly figures appeared on each side of the table and started playing the game.

The one on the left said, "Check."

The other commented, "We've been expecting you Maul."

"Who are you and how do you know my name?" said Maul as he did a back flip through the air, landed, pulled out his lightsaber, and ignited it, all in one quick swoop.

"Our names are not important. But you would know me by the name of Darth Revan and my friend as the Exile." said the figure on the right, standing up from his seat. Revan looked much like a conventional Sith Lord. A dark robe, a utility belt covered with grenades and weapons of every sort, with the lightsaber as the center piece of the belt, and to top it all off, a menacing dirty mask.

"You can put that toy away." said the Exile pointing at Maul's lightsaber. The Exile looked much different than Revan, A brown robe with the hood up, no weapons except a lightsaber, and no mask.

"But that would make you two thousands of years old." exclaimed Maul.

"I suppose it does." said Revan.

"You see, we are siphons in the force much like yourself. With that unique ability, we can restore our youth as often as we like allowing us to live forever." stated the Exile.

"But that isn't important right now. You came here seeking answers and we will give you every answer you are looking for and so much more. But first you must understand a few things." Said Revan

Then the Exile said, "The universe is much like a game of hollo chess. Every piece represents a group of people. The pawns represent civilians. They can only move in the way the force is moving them unless will power tells them to get rid of the person next to them, even then they move in the new path the force is leading them. The rooks are the tyrants and royalty. They have more power over the people and can move as far as they want but only in one direction or the other. The bishops represent people who know of the force but do not wield it. They have much more from freedom in the force and are not destined to go the same way as others but still are ultimately under the control of the force. The knights represent Jedi Padawan and Sith apprentices. They have limited ability to go about but can only go in small paths of three. The queens are like Jedi and Sith knights. They can go any where and do anything as long as it is within the force. The kings are like Jedi and Sith masters. They too can go wherever they want but they go slower because they are older and think things through before moving. They are under the protection of every one whether the people know they are protecting them or not. If the masters disappear then it is just a short amount of time before all the other groups disappear as well."

Revan finally came in and commented "But because hollo chess is a mechanical game there is a way to cheat." Revan messed with the panel and right in the middle of the chess board a new piece appeared.

At that moment, the Exile finished the speech with this, "That new piece is us. We can move off the board, go around it to the side, go underneath it, do whatever we want, and not be held back by the force but can control it for good or evil."

"What do you mean?" said Maul.

"You are no longer bound by the force. You still wield it but now you can bend it and control it for your desires." said Revan.

"How do I do that?" asked Maul.

"You must learn how to use your new powers. We will teach you. But before you begin you must decide whether you want to learn how to use these powers to help the force or use them to your advantage. These choices require different training for both." said the Exile.

Revan immediately commented, "Do not tell us your answer now but rather go back down the corridor you came and chose another hallway to go down. Go down the dark one to learn how to help the force, and go down the darker own to learn how to use it for your wants and desires."

"We will be waiting for you" said the Exile.

Immediately, Revan, the Exile, and the hollo chess board disappeared leaving Maul in the dark empty room with nothing in it except more questions.


	4. The Power of the Sith

Authors Notes: Sorry about cutting the last chapter halfway through but it was just getting so long that I decided to have the rest in this chapter.

Chapter 4: The Power of the Sith

Maul began to think. Light or dark? He had never thought in these terms before. His entire life, he had been trying to do what his master wanted, to become more powerful so he ultimately could destroy his master and control the Sith as was the way of the Sith. Though he knew most beings pictured him as being evil, he never considered himself evil, he was simply doing what he felt he must do. Being a Sith was all he knew. Unlike most Sith, he never was a Jedi. In fact, he was taught to consider the Jedi evil. Maul thought as he walked down the corridor, "If I choose light I can make sure that things happen the way they are meant to, but the Jedi usually end up on top if the Force is in control, but I don't know if I am strong enough to bend the Force to what I want. Now that I think about it I don't even know what I want. If I do have these powers, what can I do with them? What should I do?" At that moment, he realized he was right were the corridor split. To his right was the dark hallway, that surprisingly looked a little lighter, and to the left was the darker, that seemed pitch black now. He looked again and in the light side hallway was the Exile, and in the dark side was Revan.

"It is now time to chose." said the Exile.

"One final thing we can say, if you chose the light no one can ever know you exist you must spend your days hiding and the only thanks you will get will be from the Force." said Revan.

"And if you chose the dark, all will know you exist and the Force will constantly be out to destroy you." shouted the Exile.

"What is your choice Maul?" said Revan to finish the conversation.

Maul was good at hiding but never liked it. It made him feel like he was a coward, or a small child. Yet at the same time he wasn't sure if he could stop the Force from destroying him forever. Maul stopped and began to meditate. Finally, he stood up. He had made his choice. His very being had brought him to this moment. As he rose and began to walk, he suddenly felt calm. As if the questions that had been in his brain where now irrelevant. He knew that the decision he had mad is what he should do, what his very being was created to do. He had decided that this was what he truly, truly wanted. He walked towards Revan. Maul had decided to go with Revan, to train to use his power for his own gain.

"Good choice, Maul. Let us begin you training." said Revan. "Let's first begin with probably the least exciting but the hardest to learn ability with your new powers."

"Which is?" questioned Maul.

"Knowing the will of the Force."

Maul looked at Revan, puzzled. "How can one know the will of the Force?"

"Sit down and begin mediating, and you will see how." Maul did as Revan asked. "Now concentrate on what you know. Think long and hard. Think about what the Jedi in your vision said. Picture the Force not as a mystical power that controls us all but instead as a thing you can control and use for your own power. Think. Think…"

Suddenly Maul opened his eyes and instead of seeing to room where he and Revan were, He suddenly was in a giant library with hollo discs everywhere. Revan's voice began to echo in the room, "Read all of these. These are what the Force plans on doing with everyone on every planet, and every being, until the end of time. Some books have new volumes for people you have already influenced by being a siphon in the force." Maul began to read. He read, and read, and read. He read every book. He found a few he thought were very interesting like the story of his master, Darth Sidious. He was distressed to discover that, in the latest volume of Sidious' life, his master had replaced Maul with a new apprentice known as Darth Tyrannous or Count Dooku. He also found the Story of an Anakin Skywalker most interesting. Anakin currently was being trained under the guidance of master Mace Windu. Anakin supposedly was the one who was to bring balance back to the Force. Maul laughed when he read the prophecy that talked about the balance in the Force. He also thought it was ironic that this young Jedi was friends with an old Senator who was really Maul's Sith Master. The more he read of Anakin's story the more he knew he must meet this boy. He stumbled upon the volumes of his own life. The original version did indeed have him dying on Naboo. He found the latest version of his own life and there was a very small section after what he already knew had happened at it said "Darth Maul walks out of the tomb someone asks "Are you Darth Maul?" Then, Maul says "Yes." Then he is instantly shot and killed as was supposed to happen to him long ago." He thought "Now that I know that, I can make sure it doesn't happen." He finally finished. He closed his eyes. Then right after opened them, He was in the hallway of the tomb on Korriban with Revan directly in front of him.

"As I said before, what you read was what the Force is _planning_ for all those beings. If you do not like what you read, then you can go and change it. You are now all powerful and can do anything you want. But there is one warning I have for you, the force is constantly rewriting those books in that library so you need to check back as often as possible or you could be caught by surprise and if that happens, you will die." said Revan.

Maul replied, "Don't you have more to teach me?"

"Yes, but you need to go out of the tomb and keep yourself from dying." said Revan.

"How did you know that?" Maul said.

"You're not the only one who has access to those books."

"Right, I'll be back soon," replied Maul as he began to walk to the exit of the tomb.

"Not as soon as you think, Maul, not as soon as you think."

Maul walked to the entrance of the tomb and opened the door with his lightsaber on. He looked out and in front of him was a large group of Super Battle Droids and a bounty hunter in blue armor. The bounty hunter said "Are you Darth Maul?"

Then, Maul says, "Yes."

Then the bounty hunter pulls two guns out and points them at Maul, preparing to fire. Suddenly, a droid come up behind the bounty hunter and hands him a message. "I would love to shoot you right now but, according to this, my employer wants you alive."

Maul says, "And, Who is that?"

"Some guy named Dooku."

"Dooku, huh? I'll come quietly then." Maul said with a fiendishly evil smile, showing his rotten yellow teeth, and disengaging his lightsaber.

"In that case, Off to Geonosis." said the bounty hunter


	5. The Battle of Geonosis

Authors Notes: Sorry I have been away for so long. I have made a few minor changes in the first for chapters, for those who have been with the story form the beginning, and I also made some major changes to this chapter. This next chapter takes place during the final scenes of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Assume everything in everyone's lives has continued like the movies and books except for Maul's, of course, and that Mace Windu has taken over Obi-Wan's positions as Anakin's Jedi Master. Thanks for reading. Enjoy!

Chapter 5: The Battle of Geonosis

As Maul walked onto bounty hunter's ship, with four battle droids surrounding him to keep him from going any where, he saw a calendar on a wall in the ship. To Maul's surprise, it had been nearly ten years since the fight on Naboo. Much had changed in Maul's life since that time. At that time, he was just a mere speck in the universe, destined to die at the hands of his enemies. Now, he was in control of his destiny, and possibly the galaxy. His sense of ultimate power was weakened by the fact that he, a Sith, was being held captive by a weak bounty hunter. As soon as they brought Maul to his holding cell aboard the ship, he began to meditate. Going back to read more of the Force "books", and find out exactly what changed that made him live this time, and to discover what he should do next. When he opened his eyes to see the "library," He noticed something, or rather someone, sitting at the desk where he read the books before. This immediately shocked Maul and caused him to beak his trance, and wake up finding himself in the holding cell again. Maul decided to forget about this until he could get back to Korriban and talk to Revan and the Exile about this strange happening. "I guess I'll have to figure out what to do the old fashioned way," He thought.

The ship began to break the atmosphere of Geonosis. Looking through his rather small window, he realized that this planet was no better than Korriban or Tatooine when it came to landscape, consisting of rolling hills of sand as far as the eye can see, except for maybe a small living area here or there. The only differences Maul could see between these planets and Geonosis was that the sand here was red, and the fact that there was a massive, droid producing factory with Trade Federation and Techno Union ships all around it. Maul found this very interesting as he remembered Nute Gunray mentioning something about Geonosis as having all the proper natural materials to make an army of Battle Droids, way back before he fought the Jedi. The ship Maul occupied slowly descended to the landing pad. The droids came back to his cell and one of them said in a very robotic and dry voice "Follow us." Maul, seeing this as an opportunity to find Dooku and find out what really is going on here, decided to listen to them for now.

Maul walked out of the ship with the droids, down a corridor, and then they stopped at a door. The droid typed a code, in turn, opened the door, revealing the factory floor. There were mechanical arms flying everywhere. Maul looked around as he walked in and noticed that on the other side of the factory there was a boy with a blue lightsaber fighting some droids away, a girl falling into a bucket that would eventually pour hot, molten lava on her, an astromech droid with boost jets flying to turn off the lava machine, and a protocol droid about to get his head chopped off and replaced with a battle droid head. Maul decided to disregard this and let the droids handle that. They finally stopped walking and entered a room. Maul noticed an unconscious Mace Windu hanging from some energy "chains" and that a similar contraption was about to be his fate, as well. The droids left Maul and Windu hanging. Not too long after the droids left, an older man and the bounty hunter with the blue armor came in.

"Ah, the renowned Darth Maul. My master has told me much about you," said the older man.

Maul gruffly commented "I assume you are Count Dooku."

"Indeed. You are obviously more clever than you look."

"Why did you send your lackey over there to go to Korriban to get me, and how did you even know I was there?" Maul asked.

The person in blue armor finally spoke and said, "The name is Jango Fett, and I am nobody's lackey. I'm here waiting for my pay."

"In due time, Fett, In due time. Now, back to your questions, Maul. You do not think that someone as wise as Darth Sidious would allow you to have a ship without having a way to track it. I sent Fett because I am far to busy here to waste my time on petty annoyances such as yourself," Dooku replied.

Maul then said, "Why come and get me at all?"

"Ha, ha, ha, my dear boy, you mustn't have listened to your master's teaching very well. You see, I want to be Sidious' apprentice and the only way that can happen, according to the ancient Sith teaching, is if I kill his old apprentice, which happens to be you," Dooku said.

"Then pull out your saber and kill me now. I am defenseless," Maul challenged.

"I am the new leader of the anti-republic movement known as the Separatists, so I can not be seen with blood on my hands. I will kill you the same way I am killing Windu, that Padawan of his, and Senator Amidala," Dooku stated.

"And, what way would that be?" Maul inquired.

"Jango, bring our two fugitives here to the arena and see how they like being a wild beasts chew toy." Jango then began unlatching the contraptions that held Maul and Windu from the stands which they were on and began to carry them to the arena.

The initial light coming in from the arena caused Maul to squint, but the light was soon drowned out by the enormous size of the arena. It was a huge, deep circle that had only four poles with chains hanging down from the top, and several large holes cut in the sides. Above the circle, were seats full of Geonosians and a small platform where Dooku, as well as Nute Gunray, were standing to watch the "show." When Jango finished moving Maul and Windu from the energy chains to the real ones, Mace Windu awoke, only to realize that he was in a huge arena, and that possibly, he was about to die.

Windu looked beside him and saw Maul he said, "You're the one who killed Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan on Naboo!"

"Who? Oh, yes, those two Jedi. I am surprised that you even remember that. I mean, it was just two Jedi. I am sure a lot more have died since then," Maul replied very quickly.

"It is true enough that more have died, but you are a wanted criminal and I am going to have to put you under arrest."

"And, how exactly are you going to do that, when both you and I are chained up to a pole and hungry beasts are about to come and devour us? I have already figured out how to break these chains and get myself and possibly you out of here. So if I get us out of here you, let me go," Maul replied, lying through his teeth.

"I am afraid I can't do that."

"Then I'm afraid that you will need to find your own way out."

Before Windu could comment any more, he saw Anakin and Padme being rolled into the arena on a chariot with chains on their hands. After the Geonosians, successfully tied Padme and Anakin to the poles Mace said, "What are you doing here, Anakin?"

"We came to rescue you, master," said Ani.

"Well, you're doing a great job, apparently," Maul said sarcastically.

"Who's this?" said Anakin.

"Uh, no one. Just some other guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Mace. He was trying to hide the fact that Maul was Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon's assassin. Anakin had made a strong connection with those two, even in the short time they were together and secretly held a grudge against their killer, but Mace knew about Anakin's true feelings in this matter and was trying to protect Anakin from doing something he would regret. Maul considered that this was fine for now and decided not to tell Anakin the truth. Right, after this conversation ended, the doors in the pit opened and three huge beasts ran out, all with hunger glaring in there eyes. "Anakin, we need to get out of here."

"What about Padme?" said Anakin, in a protective tone, showing his true love for her.

Maul heard Anakin's tone and, remembered from the Force books, had strong feelings for Padme. He found this very interesting because he saw this love as a weakness strong enough to pull Anakin to the dark side of the Force. Maul decided to put this in his mind to remember later. He looked over to Padme's pole and noticed that she used a pin, from her hair, to unlock her chains, had climbed up the pole, and was using the chains as a whip to smack the beast that was charging at her.

After seeing this, Maul commented, "I guess you could say she is on top of things. Now, if you'll excuse me I have some unfinished business with Count Dooku." At that moment, Maul used a Force pull maneuver and got his lightsaber that he had been hiding in his shirt, ignited it, and cut the chains. Anakin was surprised that "some guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time" had a lightsaber and could control the Force. Suddenly, all three beasts charged at Maul, being beckoned by the Force to destroy him. "I guess I'll have to deal with these three first," Maul thought. He started swinging his lightsaber over his head as a taunt to the animals. The first animal charged using his giant horn to attack, but Maul cut it off, jumped in the air, did a flip, landed on the animal, stuck half of his lightsaber through the beast's neck, jumped off the animal, and landed in an attack position to get the other animals. As this was happening, Padme climbed down her pole and was freeing Anakin and Mace from their chains. The second beast came to Maul and tried to stomp him with his long spider-like legs. Maul ducked and rolled to miss the consecutive attacks. Then, he ran under the beast and cut off its legs with lightening speed. It fell over dead. The last of the beasts ran towards Maul and jumped on top of him. Maul quickly tuned off his lightsaber, brought it to where the blade would be right under the beast, and turned it back on. After a loud shrill from the beast, everyone looked over and saw a black energy blade sticking straight through the beast's heart. Maul turned the lightsaber off and threw the beast off of him. "Well, at least that's over," thought Maul. As he began to recollect himself, he looked up and saw the same person that he saw in the library of the force books. The being turned around and vanished. Maul barely had time to register this when, suddenly, the doors reopened and thousands of battle droids came marching out and surrounded the Jedi, the Senator, and Darth Maul.

At that moment, Jedi Master Kai-Adi Mundi walked up to Count Dooku, ignited his lightsaber, held it in front of Dooku's neck, and said, "I believe your celebration has come to an end." Mace shook his head at how incredibly lame that sounded. Jango Fett started to attack Mundi and caused both Mundi and Fett begin to plummet into the pit. Several Jedi then took off there cloaks and, turned on their sabers. They jumped into the pit, began cutting the droids, and threw some sabers to Mace and Ani. Maul decided he had better join in the fighting if he was ever to get off this planet. Padme grabbed one of the droids guns and started shooting. Maul jumped high in the air, pointed his lightsaber to the ground, and landed on his knee. When he did this, it sent a shockwave through the ground and sent droids flying everywhere. Then, he stood up and began cutting droids. He jumped, did some back flips, and landed right next to Padme. They stood back to back, Maul on one side cutting the droids with his lightsaber and Padme on the other side blasting droids to bits. Maul realized a stray shot heading straight toward Padme, grabbed her, and jumped out of the way. Maul looked over and saw Anakin looking over with a hint of jealousy in his eyes, for someone else was holding the only woman that he had left in the world to care about. Maul knew that his mother had just recently died, and that he had killed all those Sand people. He saw the anger that was already within Anakin, and that this gesture ignited a flame of jealousy that would be in Ani's mind forever, and could one day be powerful enough turn him to the dark side. Maul needed to make sure that it did. If Maul was even to turn Anakin to the dark side, he needed to do something desperate so that that flame of Jealousy would consume Anakin's mind and body, filling him with anger and rage. Maul did something that no one would ever have expected him to do, but at the same time anyone that would know of his plans knew that it was what he must do. He grabbed Padme closer and kissed her. He held her there just long enough for Anakin to notice and react to it. Then, before Padme could react, Maul jumped away and created a path towards the platform where Dooku was by destroying more battle droids. Maul's plan had worked perfectly. It made Anakin more furious than he had ever been before in his life. He began to charge toward Maul, slicing all the droids between them, with the only thought running through his mind was destroying Darth Maul. Before Anakin reached him, however, several ships swooped down out of the sky and dropped off hundreds of Clone Troopers, all led by Jedi Master Yoda. The Troopers blasted what was left of the droids and loaded all the Jedi onto the ships to stop the Trade Federation ships from escaping.

Maul looked up at the platform where Dooku was, and saw that he was running away. He force jumped up onto the platform and began to chase Dooku.

Anakin was still trying to get Maul when Master Windu said, "Ani, there's no time." Anakin reluctantly stopped and turned around to go back to his master, Padme, and the ship.

When Ani was safely on board, Mace said, "I suppose you've realized that was Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's murderer."

"What?" Anakin said angrily.

"That man was the Sith who killed them. I thought you figured that out and that's why you were chasing him."

"Of course, master. Why else would I be chasing him?" Anakin lied.

"Why else, indeed?" Mace said doubtingly.

Maul was rushing down the corridor towards Dooku. Jango Fett flew up to Maul, and landed right in his way, and fired several shots at him. Maul deflected the shots, cut Jango's head off, stole his jet pack, and used it to catch up to Dooku. When Maul reached the end of the corridor, he saw that Dooku had already left on a speeder bike with two droid escorts, on similar bikes, surrounding him on both sides. Maul flew up right behind the bikes. Realizing this, Dooku sped up and the escort droids started shooting Maul. While still flying, Maul used his saber to deflect the bolts. Suddenly, the ship that Anakin, Padme, and Mace were on came up right behind them.

"Shoot them down," said Mace.

"Which one, sir? There are four targets," questioned the clone pilot.

Then Mace said, "You choose which one to shoot first. I want them all down."

"Sir, yes, sir," said the pilot in a very militant tone, but Maul deflected one of the bolts from the droid's shots back to the ship, making in rock, and causing Padme to fall out. Maul now had plenty of time to speed up and cut the droids' head off while Anakin and Mace fought over whether to put the ship down or not. By the time Ani and Mace had stopped arguing, they realized that Dooku and Maul had landed and they were both on foot heading into a building with a single ship. Maul turned around as they were running and used the Force to push the clone ship out of the way, so he could get a good head start. After doing this, Maul ran into the building and finally caught up to Dooku, and Maul took off the jet pack. Both Maul and Dooku ignited their lightsabers, and began to circle around one other.

"It seems I am going to have to kill you myself if I want it done," Dooku said angrily.

"I am afraid it is you who must die," commented Maul.

"Indeed," said Dooku as he ran toward Maul. Maul blocked his attack with one side of his lightsaber and with the other side of his double blade attacked Dooku. Dooku blocked and counter-attacked knocking Maul's saber out of his hand, causing Maul to fall to the floor. Dooku came in for the finishing blow. Maul began to Force choke Dooku. Maul was surprised that someone as old and who gloated as much as Dooku wouldn't have been able to resist such a simple maneuver. Dooku was struggling as Maul lifted him higher into the air. Maul stood up and concentrated more on the attack, when suddenly, lightning came out of Maul's hand as he was choking Dooku. Maul thought this would drain all the Force energy he had left, but instead made him feel stronger and more powerful. Maul's eyes began to glow a fiery red and he started to lift up off the ground, then Dooku finally gave up and died, making Maul's growing sensation stop, plunking him back on the ground. Maul walked over to Dooku's corpse and saw a small data pad on his utility belt. He picked it up, turned it on, and began to read some of the information on it. It was blueprints for a super battle station called the "Death Star." At that time, Anakin and Mace came in through the door and found Maul standing over Dooku's dead body. Maul quickly hid the data pad so the Jedi would not see it.

"You are under arrest for the murder of two Jedi knights," said Mace.

"Come quietly or we will have to use force," Anakin said as he ignited his lightsaber.

Maul quickly jumped backwards onto the loading ramp of the ship that was in the room and pulled down a pipe from the ceiling which hit Mace on the head and knocked him out.

"Anakin, do not let me getting away discourage you. You are a great Jedi, in fact, I see you becoming one of the greatest ever. I would love to face you, another day." Maul said to pump Anakin's confidence up, while at the same time walking up the ramp as Anakin tried to lift the pipe off his master. Just before the loading ramp closed Maul, in a final attempt to make Anakin even angrier, yelled out, "Oh, by the way your girlfriend is a great kisser."

"I am going to kill you, Sith!" Anakin said as he ran toward the ship, but it was too late. The ship had already taken off.

On the ship, the automated computer system said, "Plot destination."

Maul said, "Plot course for Korriban and step on it. I have some interesting things to tell my new masters."

Back in the hangar, Master Yoda came in and used the Force to free Mace Windu from the pipe. Windu had just recently regained consciousness. Mace and Anakin began to tell Yoda what happened. Then Yoda said, "Felt a disturbance in the Force I did, but foresee this I did not. Information of this anti-republic movement Dooku may have had and even more disturbing it is the reappearance of the assassin. Meditate on this I will, but now go we must."

"Even though he was a Sith, and he got away, without him we may not have killed Dooku and gained this victory for the republic." said Windu as his Padawan angrily trudged behind him.

Yoda then commented, "Victory? A victory it was not. Because of what happened here there is no longer any doubt about the war we foresaw. Begun the Clone Wars have."


End file.
